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TTC York University BRT

Thanks to CDl.TO for an excellent siummary of the issues remaining with the BRT. But:
CDL.TO said:
- MARKETING! This is clearly a piece of rapid transit infrastructure and it should be marketed as such. There’s no mention of it on the TTC’s front page. It should have a map that illustrates it like a real rapid transit line. The busway sections should be highlighted in some way.
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Presumably that might undermine the efforts to sell Transit City LRT as the Better Way of the future.

Speaking of BRT, is this an appropriate place to link to Ed Glaeser's obituary of transportation economist John Meyer on nytimes.om last month? Glaeser - evidently no railfan himself - includes a brief mention of the case for BRTs.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/remembering-the-father-of-transportation-economics/
 
lead82 said:
Did anyone time the difference in travel time with the busway to before the busway. I am curious on how much faster the trip is now.
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I did not have a chance to measure Downsview to York U.

However, I took bus 117 and got from Downsview to Steeles in 9 minutes today. That had never happened before (typical travel time was 15 to 20 min).

This is partly due to 117 no longer serving Wilson Hts, and partly thanks to the busway between Downsview and Finch HC.
 
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Oh wow, that is pretty fast. I guess the removal of service on Wilson Heights and all those extra turns save a good chunk of time.

What time of day did you make this trip? Reason I ask is that there is usually terrible traffic on Dufferin from about Supertest Road to Steeles, and often buses get stuck there.
 
That trip took place around 7 pm. There was no traffic conjestion south of Steeles.

But you are right, Dufferin between Steeles and Finch is often congested during the peak hours. The existing busway won't help in such cases; continuation of BRT lanes up to Steeles is desirable. Dufferin corridor has more than enough space to add two BRT lanes.
 
I have to wonder why the Steeles West express and Finch West buses aren't feeding into Downsview instead of Finch station. I'd have thought that would significantly cut travel time to downtown.
 
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I honestly thought you genuinely believed there was a Finch West express bus.

As for your actual point, the 36 does experience significant on/off at Bathurst, in addition to all the other stops between Dufferin and Yonge. Those people would be affected by sending the 36 to Dufferin instead of Yonge.

There are other routes out of Downsview that do hit Finch at points west, for those for whom the Spadina line is more convenient (106, 107, 108, for example). Granted, they aren't as convenient as a dedicated Finch West route.
 
Well to be honest, I hadn't checked; and I was thinking more about the Steeles West express bus than anything.

Still as Finch West will become a huge construction site for the next few years, I'd think that trying to move passengers to Downsview quickly, might be of benefit.
 
Platform 27 said:
Isn't Viva Orange supposed to be moving onto this busway at some point? There's no mention on the YRT website.
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Yes, in the busway plan, Viva Orange is supposed to use the busway.

When I asked a bus driver, he was unaware of when the routing would change.

What remains to be done is to move the VivaNow machine from it's current location at Keele and Finch to it's new location at Dufferin and Finch.
I don't know how much work it is to install a VivaNow machine, but it has to have some kind of connection so that it knows when the next bus will come. If anyone has more info about this, it would be greatly appreciated.

That is one disadvantage of using such high tech bus stops. Viva cannot simply be rerouted overnight as the 196 was.

The other consideration is the new Viva bay outside the fare paid zone at Downsview. Last time I was there, it still had a barrier blocking it off. Other than that, it looked complete.
 
nfitz said:
I have to wonder why the Steeles West express and Finch West buses aren't feeding into Downsview instead of Finch station. I'd have thought that would significantly cut travel time to downtown.
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There used to be, at least to Wilson. None of the three routes (one each on Sheppard, Finch and Steeles) did particularly well, although the Finch one did hold on until the late 1980s.

reaperexpress said:
Yes, in the busway plan, Viva Orange is supposed to use the busway.

When I asked a bus driver, he was unaware of when the routing would change.
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January board period, beginning of January. This is to give themselves enough time to set up the new stops (a new one is to be built at the south end of the campus).

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Large portion of Steeles West ridership base is between Dufferin and Yonge. Even the express makes more frequent stops in that part than west of Dufferin.

Finch West express bus (# 136) used to run from Etobicoke to Wilson station a while ago, when Wilson was the terminus. I don't know why that express got discontinued later.

Dependent on the staging of TYSSE and Finch West LRT construction, TTC might redirect Finch buses to Downsview temporarily.
 
An art component for busway. Now I've heard it all. Maybe we'd get more transit infrastructure built if we didn't have to tack on a ton of unrelated crap to appease the NIMBYs. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the streetscaping improvements on TC routes come out of the TC budget?
 
Yes, in the busway plan, Viva Orange is supposed to use the busway.
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I was told by a reliable source that while Viva and GO (particularly deadheads to/from Steeprock garage) would love to use the busway, they would have to pay rent to the TTC to use it, since the TTC paid for it.
 
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